Seniors are new
competition for jobs

78 million baby boomers retiring in
next few years

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Within the next few years, 78 million baby boomers will start retiring, but with the economy taking a dive, retirement is not an option for everyone. That is why a new company has started in Austin that caters to finding seniors new employment. It is called Senior Work Solutions .

South Austin resident Dan Garrett recently signed up for the service after retiring from his job as the vice president of a food service company five years ago.

“I’m willing to work full time, doesn’t bother me a bit,” said Garrett. “I’m willing to work 20 to 40 or 50 hours a week.”

Garrett is not alone. Like many seniors who have traveled after retirement and whose kids have gone off to college, he is now saying he is bored.

“You can only play so much golf, you can only clean the house so much and you can only workout so much,” said Garrett.

Allison Jenkins and her mother Holly De Leon saw a need in the market to find jobs for seniors and started the online company Senior Work Solutions.

“The employers are really starting to catch on that they are going to be getting somebody with 20 or 30 years of experience for the same price as someone just out of college,” said Jenkins, co-founder of Senior Work Solutions.

In the six months they have been in business, 400 seniors have signed up looking for work. So far, 30 have been placed in jobs. Some are temporary jobs, while others offer full-time employment. In an economy where jobs are being cut, these days employers want to hire temporary workers, making senior citizens the new competition in an already volatile job market.

“We are out there saying to employers, ‘This pool of talent is right here in the Austin area, and you can take advantage of that talent pool,'” said De Leon, Senior Work Solutions CEO.

Senior Work Solutions is free to use. Those interested need to sign up online and than then have a sit-down interview with the founders so they can learn more about what type of job the applicant is looking for.